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Toolbar detects rapidshare files

Simple and straightforward, this free Firefox add-on detects and highlights rapidshare files. Though we would have liked to have seen more customization options, it did its job well.

RS Tool introduces a toolbar to your Firefox browser. For what few buttons it brings to the table, it took up a lot of room, and it would have been nice to integrate it with another toolbar to save space. On the toolbar, you'll find a drop-down menu with links for help, to contact the publisher, and to upgrade. No other customization options are offered to make up for the dead … Read more

Free browser impresses

After testing this sleek, straightforward browser, we were ready to get rid of our current, more popular browser, and make The World Browser our default.

The user interface looks professionally designed, with self-explanatory command buttons at the top of the window. Below that are shortcuts to all of your bookmark categories. The interface can be customized to add or remove extra toolbars, but we liked the clean, uncluttered look of the default settings. Tiny navigational buttons make it easy to move through opened tabs. We especially liked the tab preview option for displaying all of your open tabs on one … Read more

Cluttered interface design

The name of this password and number generator is fitting, because it seems as though its overall design is truly random. Nevertheless, it proved to be a worthy tool for coming up with unique combinations.

Truly Random has a very cluttered user interface. Luckily, it can be resized, which also increases the font size for better readability. Still, we found it awkward to navigate. Check boxes let you select the characters that you wish to include: uppercase, lowercase, special characters, numbers, spaces, and pronounceable. The length and number of characters can also be manually inputted. There is a wizard that … Read more

Convert FLV files to other formats

Converting FLV files you've saved or found on the Internet to other formats--MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, WAV, MOV, and iPod--is a breeze with this user-friendly tool. Unfortunately, the demo version converts only 70 percent of any file until you purchase the registered version.

Smart FLV Converter Pro launches a compact but slightly busy interface that is still understandable and very function-driven. To help novices, contextual help boxes pop up from each button in the order they should be used: Add File, Output Format, Convert. Very simple.

This utility functioned very well in our tests, converting formats very quickly. … Read more

Microwave, pizza oven combo keeps college students going

Convenience and kitchen gadgets go hand in hand. Certainly, that is true in the case of this Stainless Steel Kenmore Countertop Microwave & Pizza Oven. With the inclusion of a pizza oven into the base of the microwave, it's quite possible any college student will never need another appliance as long as they are in school.

The microwave and pizza oven work independently of each other. The microwave has six automatic One-Touch buttons, for most common microwave usages: Reheat, Cook, Defrost, Express Defrost, Popcorn, and Potato. Additionally, an "Add 30 seconds" button allows for personalized preferences for … Read more

Finally...something interesting in Skymall

Since I can read United Airline's in-flight magazine only so many times on a 10-hour flight between San Francisco and Frankfurt, Germany, I took a few minutes to leaf through the ubiquitous Skymall catalog as well.

Normally, for every one thing I would consider buying in Skymall, I find 20 completely useless things (seriously...who really wants to make a bulletin board out of wine corks?). But this issue of the catalog had the fancy Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on its cover.

As you may recall, the touch-screen smartphone debuted at the 2008 GSMA World Congress. And even as … Read more

Windows 7 beta users to get 'updates'

Next week, Windows 7 beta users will get a variety of updates, only they aren't really updates.

Instead, Microsoft said it will be sending the patches to test the operating system's updating mechanism.

The company stressed the updates won't actually add new features or update anything.

Brandon LeBlanc explained the nature of the updates in a blog posting Thursday (note that the emphasis is his):

Starting February 24, we will be releasing up to 5 test updates to PCs running the Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) via Windows Update. These updates allow us to test and verify … Read more

Eau De P.O.S.: A new hybrid fragrance by Calvin Klein

Banking on the not-so-recent popularity of digital audio, opportunist Calvin Klein is kicking off his latest "We Are One" campaign with a commemorative bottle of the classic CK1 fragrance that features a removable speaker at its base.

Calvin Klein's been a fashion staple since 1968, but we're not sure how much experience the company has with high-end audio. If I had to guess, I'd put my paycheck on "absolutely none whatsoever," and if I'm right, the audio quality of the speaker is probably about as good as a front door intercom.

The … Read more

Error messages abound

Our time with this free torrent downloader was brief because a glitch prevented it from working properly. FoxTorrent is a Firefox add-on that appears in your Tools menu.

According to the four-step guide that details how the program works, you're supposed to be able to click on a torrent, and the program automatically starts the download process. But in our tests, we continually received an error message stating that the Red Swoosh service was missing. No details were given about what that service was, but we were given the option to reinstall it. Even after this "fix," … Read more